Disa porrecta

Disa porrecta, commonly known as the rocket orchid, as lekholela in Southern Sotho and previously scientifically as D. zeyheri, is a tuberous, reed-like perennial reaching heights from 20 cm to 60 cm.

The leaves develop after flowering as happens in hysteranthous plants, sometimes retained dry. The basal leaves are linear, about 30 cm long. The stem-leaves sheathe and clasp, variably spaced.

The species distribution is in the eastern Free State, the east of the Western Cape from the Kammanassie and the Swartberg Mountains in the Little Karoo, and inland in the Eastern Cape, as far east as Makhanda. It also grows in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho.

The habitat is higher altitude grassland and fynbos slopes, often southern ones. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The plant resembles D. ferruginea that occurs in the Western Cape (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Liltved and Johnson, 2012; Gledhill, 1981; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).